LEGA L NO T I C E S

Copyright 2006 Nuance Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted, transcribed, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without prior written consent from Nuance Communications, Inc., 1 Wayside Road, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803-4609. Printed in the United States of America and in Ireland.The software described in this book is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license.

IMPORTANT NOTICENuance Communications, Inc. provides this publication "As Is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranmay not apply to you. Nuance reserveschanges from time to time in the conteperson of such revision or changes.

TRADEMARKS AND CREDITNuance, the Nuance logo, ScanSoft, OmForm Recognition, RealSpeak and ASR-1Nuance Communications, Inc., in the other company names or product namrespective holders.

THIRD PARTY LICENSES/NPlease see acknowledgements/notices a

Nuance Communications, Inc1 Wayside RoadBurlington, MA 01803-4609U.S.A.

Nuance Belgium BVBA Guldensporenpark 32BE-9820 MerelbekeBelgiumties in certain transactions; therefore, this statement the right to revise this publication and to make nt hereof without obligation of Nuance to notify any

S

niPage, PaperPort, True Page, Direct OCR, Logical 600 are registered trademarks or trademarks of United States of America and/or other countries. All es referenced herein may be the trademarks of their

OTICES

t the end of this guide.

.

C O N T E N T S

W E L C O M E 5New features in OmniPage 15 7

I N S T A L L A T I O N A N D S E T U P 9System requirements 9Installing OmniPage 10Setting up your scanner with OmniPage 11How to start the program 13Registering your software 14Activating OmniPage 15Uninstalling the software 15How to use OmniPage with PaperPort 16

U S I N G O M N I P A G EOmniPage DocumenThe OmniPage DeskBasic Processing Step

P R O C E S S I N G D O C U M E N T SQuick Start Guide Processing methods Manual processing Processing with workProcessing from otherProcessing with the BDefining the source oDocument to documDescribing the layoutPreprocessing ImagesImage Enhancement Using Image EnhanceSaving and applying tImage Enhancement OmniPage SE Users Guide 3

1 7ts 17top 18s 19

2 1212325

flows 25 applications 26atch Manager 28f page images 29ent conversion 31 of the document 32 33Tools 35ment History 37emplates 37in Workflows 38

4 Contents

Zones and backgrounds 38Table grids in the image 42Using zone templates 42

P R O O F I N G A N D E D I T I N G 4 5The editor display and views 45Proofreading OCR results 46Verifying text 47The Character Map 48User dictionaries 49Languages 50Training 50Text and image editing 52On-the-fly editing 54Reading text aloud 55Working with Forms 56

S A V I N G A N D E X P O R T I N GSaving and ExportingSaving original imageSaving recognition reSending pages by maiOther export targets

W O R K F L O W SWorkflow Assistant Batch Manager Creating new jobs Watched folders Watched mailboxes Barcode processing Voice recognition

T E C H N I C A L I N F O R M A T I O NTroubleshooting

I N D E X5 9 59s 60sults 61l 65

65

6 769737478798081

8 383

8 9

Welcome

Welcome to this OmniPage 15 text recognition program, and thank you for choosing our software! The following documentation has been provided to help you get started and give you an overview of the program.

This Users Guide

This guide introduces you to using OmniPage 15. It includes installation and setup instructions, a description of the programs commands and working areas, task-oriented instructions, ways to customize and control processing, and technical information.

This guide is written with the assumption that you know how to work in the Microsoft Windows envirodocumentation if you have quemenu commands, scroll bars, dmenus, and so on.

We also assume you are familiasoftware, and that the scanner is setup with OmniPage 15. Pledocumentation as necessary.

Online Help

OmniPage online Help containprocedures. It also has a compreindex and a table of contents. Thelp, and has been designed foOnline Help is available after y

Press F1 as you are worhelp topic relating to the currenmessage.Welcome 5

nment. Please refer to your Windows stions about how to use dialog boxes, rag and drop functionality, shortcut

r with your scanner and its supporting is installed and working correctly before it ase refer to the scanners own

s information on features, settings, and hensive glossary, with its own alphabetical he online Help is provided as HTML

r quick and easy information retrieval. ou install OmniPage.

king with the program to see an online t screen area, dialog box or warning

6 Welcome

Comprehensive context-sensitive help aims to provide just enough assistance to let you keep working without delay. You can access the context-sensitive help in the following ways:

Click the Help tool in the Standard toolbar to get the help cursor. Click with this on any item on the desktop outside a dialog box or warning message.

Press Shift + F1 to get the same help cursor. Use Shift + F1 to get context-sensitive help for shortcut menu items.

Click the question mark button in the upper right corner of a dialog box and then click an item in the dialog box to see the popup window.

Some dialog boxes or warning messages have their own Help button, or a help text. Click the button or the text to get information on the dialog or message box.

Click anywhere to remove a context-sensitive popup Help window.

Readme File

The Readme file contains last-mPlease read it before using OmReadme in the OmniPage Insta

Scanning and other informat

The Nuance web site at wwwon the program. The Scanner G(http://www.nuance.com/scannabout supported scanners and rwidely used scanner models. AcOmniPage 15 Installer or after

Tech NotesThe web site at www.nuance.coreported issues using OmniPagon the installation process and inute information about the software. niPage. To open this HTML file, choose ller or afterwards in the Help menu.

ion

.nuance.com provides timely information uide erguide/) contains up-dated information elated issues; Nuance tests the 25 most cess Nuances web site from the

wards from the Help menu.

m contains Tech Notes on commonly e 15. Web pages may also offer assistance troubleshooting.

What's new

What's new in this release of OmniPage?The new generation of the OmniPage product family offers a number of improvements and innovations compared to the previous version.

General improvements include:

Faster OCR engine delivering higher accuracy Revised, intuitive user interface Improved character attributes and font matching Improved table conversion Better zoning and handling of colored backgrounds Better layout retention and document-level consolidation.

Features available in all versions of OmniPage - OmniPage SE 4.0, OmniPage 15 and OmniPage Professional 15

Clearer and more pre Ribbon Character ma

characters during edit Image enhancement t

and the quality of exp

Features available inProfessional 15

Workflow viewer enhtasks.

Extended PDF suppo New supported file ty Better Workflow/Job

through the job creati Folder and sub-folder

files and for workflow Computer or OmniP

workflow or a job is f in this release of OmniPage? 7

cise suspect word and character displayp for easy insertion of non-keyboard ing, and proofreadingools (SET tools) to improve OCR results orted images.

OmniPage 15 and OmniPage

ancements make it easier to handle regular

rt up to version 1.5pes including RTF 2000 ExactWord distinction. A Job Wizard guides you ng process. input for specified file types when loading s.age shutdown can be specified when a inished.

8 Welcome

OmniPage Search Indexer plug-in with its own installer and help. It supports the Google Desktop Search utility for indexing image and PDF files.

Features unique to OmniPage Professional 15

Form recognition and handling: have form elements auto-detected or use form drawing tools for manual editing.

Batch Manager provides more choice for job type, easier input of timing information and more precise schematic information for each job occurrence.

Mailbox watching in Batch Manager jobs. Convert to PDF step in Batch Manager, using PDF Create! for

direct conversion inside jobs. Support for sub-folders in folder watching. Customized actions c Integrated programs P

unlock and create PDPDF files, and much

Document-to-Documof formats.

New and streamlinedimage files from Share

This symbol denotebut available in OmProfessional 15.

This icon is used thare available only in

OmniPage 15 is supuse. It is also supplied in Speciamanufacturers and other resellevary, in line with each vendor'san be set for your scanner Start button.DF Converter 3 and PDF Create! 3 to

F files. Supports tagged, signed, encrypted more. See their own documentation.ent conversion to and from a wide range

support for SharePoint 2003. See Loading Point and Saving to SharePoint.

s features not available in OmniPage SE, niPage 15 and also in OmniPage

roughout the guide to denote features that OmniPage Professional 15.

plied in Enterprise versions for network l Editions for selected scanner rs. The feature set in these editions may requirements.

Installation and setup

This chapter provides information on installing and starting OmniPage.

System requirements

The minimum requirements to install and run OmniPage SE are:

A computer with an Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent

Microsoft Windows 98 (from second edition), Windows Me, Windows 2000 (from Service Pack 4), Windows XP or Windows Server 2003

Microsoft Internet Ex 128MB of memory (R 150MB of free hard d

plus 60-65MB workin

5MB for Microsoft Inin most Windows ope

Up to 5MB for system 800x600 pixel color m

card

A CD-ROM drive fo A Windows compatib A compatible scanner

you plan to scan docuweb site (www.nuanc

Web access is needed database updating andInstallation and setup 9

plorer 5.5

AM), 256MB recommended

isk space for application and sample files g space during installation.

staller (MSI) if not present (it is included rating systems)

updates

onitor with 16-bit color or greater video

r installation

le pointing device

with its own scanner driver software, if ments. See the Scanner Guide at Nuances e.com) for a list of supported scanners

for product registration, Scanner Wizard obtaining live updates for the program.

10 Chapter 1

Installing OmniPage

OmniPage 15s installation program takes you through installation with instructions on every screen.

Before installing OmniPage:

Close all other applications, especially anti-virus programs. Log into your computer with administrator privileges if you are

installing on Windows 2000, XP or Server 2003.

If you own a previous version of OmniPage, or if you are upgrading from demonstration software or an OmniPage Special Edition, the inproduct.

W To install OmniPag1. Insert the OmniPage CD-

installation program shoullocate your CD-ROM drivthe Autorun.exe program

2. Choose a language to use dLicense Agreement and enenvelope.

3. Choose a complete or a cuinstalls all RealSpeakTM Te9). In OmniPage ProfessioRecognition modules are iexclude or add modules. Tand select This feature wiapplicable to OmniPage Sstaller asks your consent to uninstall that

e:

ROM in the CD-ROM drive. The d start automatically. If it does not start, e in Windows Explorer and double-click

at the top-level of the CD-ROM.

uring installation. Accept the End-User ter the serial number shown on the CD

stom installation. A complete installation xt-to-Speech language modules (currently nal 15, up to 7 ASR-1600 Speech nstalled. Custom installation lets you o exclude a module, click its down arrow ll be installed when required. (Not E.)

Setting up

4. Follow the instructions on each screen to install the software. All files needed for scanning are copied automatically during installation.

Setting up your scanner with OmniPage

All files needed for scanner setup and support are copied automatically during the programs installation, but no scanner setup occurs at installation time. Before using OmniPage 15 for scanning, your scanner should be installed with its own scanner driver software and tested for correct functionality. Scanner driver software is not included with OmniPage.

Scanner setup is done through the Scanner Setup Wizard. You can start this yourself, as described below. Otherwise, it appears when you first attempt to perform scanning. Proceed as follows:

Choose StartAll PrScanner Setup Wizard

or click the Setup butdialog box.

or choose Scan in the Toolbox and click the

The Scanner Setup Wthe first panel invites supplied with the wiz

Choose Select and teNext. If you have a siwith any scanners prerequired scanner is no

You see a list of all decategories. This can inclick OK. To install aWizard again. your scanner with OmniPage 11

ogramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0

ton in the Scanner panel of the Options

Get Page drop-down list in the OmniPage Get Page button.

izard starts. If you have a web connection, you to update the scanner database ard. Choose Yes or No and click on Next.

st scanner or digital camera, then click ngle installed scanner, it appears, along viously set up with OmniPage. If the t listed, click Add Scanner... .

tected scanner drivers in the checkmarked clude network devices. Select one and

second device, you must run the Scanner

12 Chapter 1

The wizard reports whether the chosen scanner model already has settings in the scanner database. If it does, you do not need to test it. If it does not, you should test it. Click on Next.

If you chose not to test, click Finish. If you chose testing, click Next to have the scanner connection tested. If the connection is in order, you see a menu of further tests. Choose which testing steps you want to run. The Basic test scan is recommended.

By default OmniPage uses its own scanning interface, located in the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box. If you want to use your scanners own interface instead, choose Advanced settings... and select this. Click Hint editor... and choose Edit hints... only if you are experienced in configuring scanners or have been advised by Technical Support to do so.

Click Next to start the tests. For the Basic scan test, insert a test page into your scanner. The wizard will scan using your scanner manufacturers software. Click on Next. Your scanners native user-interface will app

Click on Scan to begi If necessary, click on

Orientation... and ma Once the image appe Move through the rem

instructions on the sc When all the requeste

the Scanner Wizard r

You have successfullyOmniPage!

To change the scanner settings scanner, reopen the Scanner Seor from the Scanner panel of th

To test and repair an improperand select Test the current scanthen work through the procedureceived from Technical Suppoear.

n the sample scan.

Missing Image or Improper ke the appropriate selections.ars correctly in the window, click on Next.

aining requested tests, following the reen.d tests have been completed successfully,

eports and invites you to click on Finish.

configured your scanner to work with

at a later time, or to setup or remove a tup Wizard from the Windows Start menu e Options dialog box.

ly functioning scanner, open the wizard ner or digital camera in the second panel, re described above, maybe using advice rt.

To specify a different default scanner, open the wizard to reach the list of setup scanners. Move the highlight to the desired scanner and be sure to close the wizard with Finish.

To get updated settings for your current scanner, open the wizard, request a fresh database download in the first screen, then choose Use current settings with current device, click Next and then Finish.

How to start the program

To start OmniPage do one of the following:

Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose All Programs ScanSoft OmniPage SE 4.0OmniPage SE 4.0.Double-click the OmniPage icon in the programs installation folder or on the Windows desktop if placed there.

Double-click an Omname; the clicked docOmniPage Docume

Right click one or moshortcut menu. Selectimages are loaded into

On opening, OmniPages title sThe OmniPage Desktop on pprograms main working areas.How to start the program 13

niPage Document (OPD) icon or file ument is loaded into the program. See

nts on page 17.

re image file icons or file names for a Open With... OmniPage application. The the program.

creen is displayed and then its desktop. See age 18. It provides an introduction to the

14 Chapter 1

There are several ways of running the program with a limited interface:

Use the Batch Manager program. Click Start in the Windows taskbar and choose All ProgramsScanSoft OmniPage 15.0 OmniPage Batch Manager. See page 28. (Not applicable to OmniPage SE.)

Click Acquire Text from the File menu of an application registered with the Direct OCR facility. See How to set up Direct OCR on page 26.

Right-click on one or more image file icons or file names for a shortcut menu. Select OmniPage 15 and choose a target format or a workflow from its sub-menu. The files will be processed according to the workflow instructions. See Workflows on page 67. (Not applicable to OmniPage SE.)

Click the OmniPage workflow to start the OmniPage Professionpossible. (Not applica

Use OmniPage with Nmanagement productOmniPage with Paper

Registering your softwa

Nuances online registration ruweb access is available. We provcompleted in less than five minSubmit. If you did not register be periodically invited to registto register online. Click on Supchoose Register in the left-handyour registration data, please seAgent icon on the taskbar. Choose a program and run the workflow. In al 15, voice selection of workflow is ble to OmniPage SE.)

uances PaperPort document , to add OCR services. See How to use Port on page 16.

re

ns at the end of installation. Please ensure ide an easy electronic form that can be utes. When the form is filled, click the software during installation, you will er later. You can go to www.nuance.com port and from the main support screen column. For a statement on the use of e Nuances Privacy Policy.

Activating OmniPage

You will be invited to activate the product at the end of installation. Please ensure that web access is available. Provided your serial number is found at its storage location and has been correctly entered, no user interaction is required and no personal information is transmitted. If you do not activate the product at installation time, you will be invited to do this each time you invoke the program. OmniPage 15 can be launched only five times without activation. We recommend Automatic Activation.

Activation is not applicable to OmniPage SE.

Uninstalling the softwareSometimes uninstalling and then reinstalling OmniPage will solve a problem. The OmniPage Unincontaining recognition results o

Zone templates (*.zon) Training files (*.otn) (Not User dictionaries (*.ud)OmniPage Documents (*.Job files (*.opj) (Not appliWorkflow files (*.xwf) (No

To uninstall from Windows 20be logged into your computer w

W To uninstall or rein Close OmniPage. Click Start in the Wi

Panel and then Add/R

Select OmniPage SE Click Yes in the dialo Select Yes to restart yo

plan to restart later.Activating OmniPage 15

stall program will not remove files r any of the following user-created files:

applicable to OmniPage SE.)

opd)cable to OmniPage SE.)t applicable to OmniPage SE.)

00, XP or Windows Server 2003 you must ith administrator privileges.

stall OmniPage:

ndows taskbar and choose the Control emove Programs.

4.0 and click Remove.

g box that appears to confirm removal.

ur computer immediately, or No if you

16 Chapter 1

Follow instructions until the process is finished.When you uninstall OmniPage, the link to your scanner is also uninstalled. You must setup your scanner again with OmniPage if you reinstall the program.

All RealSpeak and ASR modules and the that were installed with the program will also be uninstalled. (Not applicable to OmniPage SE.)ScanSoft PDF Create! 3 and ScanSoft PDF Converter 3 need to be uninstalled separately. (Not applicable to OmniPage SE.)

How to use OmniPage with PaperPort

The PaperPort program is a paper management software product from Nuance. It lets you link pages with suitable applications. Pages can contain pictures, text or bothOmniPage,amplify theOCR progrPaperPort lselecting Osettings can

PaperPort porganized doffice can qscanners, m

digital copiers to turn paper dohelps you to manage them alonone convenient and easy-to-use

PaperPorts large, clear item thuretrieve and use your scanned dspreadsheets, PDF files and eveEnhancement Technology toolgreat while the annotation toolscanned image.. If PaperPort exists on a computer with its OCR services become available and power of PaperPort. You can choose an am by right-clicking on a text applications ink, selecting Preferences and then mniPage as the OCR package. OCR be specified, as with Direct OCR.

rovides the easiest way to turn paper into igital documents that everybody in an uickly find and use. PaperPort works with ultifunction printers, and networked cuments into digital documents. It then g with all other electronic documents in filing system.

mbnails allow you to visually organize, ocuments, including Word files, n digital photos. PaperPorts Scanner s ensure that scanned documents will look s let you add notes and highlights to any

Using OmniPageOmniPage 15 uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to transform text from scanned pages or image files into editable text for use in your favorite computer applications.

In addition to text recognition, OmniPage can retain the following elements and attributes of a document through the OCR process.

Graphics (photos, logos)Form elements (checkboxes, radio buttons, text fields) - available in OmniPage Professional 15 onlyText formatting (character and paragraph)Page formatting (column structures, table formats, headings, placing of graphics).

Documents in OmniPage A document in OmniPage consAfter you perform OCR, the ddisplayed in the Text Editor, poelements.

OmniPage DocumentsAn OmniPage Documimages (optionally prethem. After recognitioresults.

When saving, you have two fileOmniPage Document (Extenddictionary, training file or zoneincrease file size considerably b

OmniPage SE does notUsing OmniPage 17

ists of one image for each document page. ocument will also contain recognized text, ssibly along with graphics, tables and form

ent (.opd) contains the original page -processed) with any zones placed on n, the OPD also contains the recognition

type choices: OmniPage Document or ed). The latter allows you to embed a user template file in the OPD. This can ut makes the OPD more portable.

support Extended OmniPage Documents.

18 Chapter 2

When you open an OmniPage Document, its settings are applied, replacing those existing in the program.

The OmniPage Desktop

The OmniPage Desktop has three main working areas, separated by splitters: the Document Manager, the Image Panel and the Text Editor. The Image Panel has an Image toolbar and the Text Editor has a Formatting toolbar.

OmniPage toolbox: This Toolb

Document Manager: This provtable. Each row represents one information for each page, and

Document Manager

Image toolbar

Formatting toolbar Standard Toolbar OmniPage Toolbox ox lets you drive the processing.

ides an overview of your document with a page. Columns present statistical or status (where appropriate) document totals.

Image Panel Text Editor

Image Panel: This is displaying the image of the current page, together with its zones. The image panel can display the current page, thumbnails, or both. When this displays the current page image, the Image toolbar is available.

Text Editor: This is displaying the recognition results from the current page. The illustration shows True Page view.

The ToolbarsThe program has five main toolbars. Use the View menu to show, hide or customize them. The status bar at the bottom edge of the OmniPage program window explains the purpose of all tools.

Standard toolbar: Performs basic functions.

Image toolbar: Performs imag

Formatting toolbar: Formats r

Verifier toolbar: Controls the

Reorder toolbar: Modifies the

Form Drawing toolbar: Creat

Form Arrangement toolbar: A

The Form toolbars ap

Basic Processing Steps

There are three ways of handlinworkflow processing (latter notmethods are broadly the same:

1. Bring a set opaper documentFeeder (ADF) orBasic Processing Steps 19

e, zoning and table operations.

ecognized text in the Text Editor.

location and appearance of the verifier.

order of elements in recognized pages.

es new form elements.

rranges and aligns form elements.

pear only in OmniPage Professional 15.

g documents: with automatic, manual or in SE). The basic steps for all processing

f images into OmniPage. You can scan a with or without an Automatic Document load one or more image files.

20 Chapter 2

2. Perform OCR to generate editable text. After OCR, you can check and correct errors in the document using the OCR Proofreader and edit the document in the Text Editor.

3. Export the document to the desired location. You can save your document to a specified file name and type, place it on the Clipboard, send it as a mail attachment or publish

it. You can save the same document repeatedly to different destinations, different file types, with different settings and levels of formatting.

Using OmniPage, you can choose from the following processing methods: Automatic, Manual, Combined, or Workflow. You can start recognition from other applications, using the Direct OCR feature of OmniPage; and can also schedule processing to run at a later time.

Processing methods are detailed

SettingsThe Options dialosettings. Access it fmenu. Context-sensetting. in the next chapter and in Online Help.

g box is the central location for OmniPage rom the Standard toolbar or the Tools sitive help provides information on each

Processing documents

This tutorial chapter describes different ways you can process a document and also provides information on key parts of this processing.

Quick Start Guide

This topic takes you step-by-step through the basic OCR process.

You will process the document automatically and save the recognition results to a file. You will proof the document but will not edit it inside the Text Editor.

What you do:

1.Set up your scanner usinScanner Wizard, if this isalready done.

2.Select StartAll ProgramScanSoft OmniPage SE OmniPage SE 4.0

3. Place the document corryour scanner.

4.

From the Get Page droplist, select a scan option document: black-and-white, grayscacolor.

5.

From the Layout Descripdrop-down list, check Auis selected. For a wide radocuments, this is the bechoice.Processing documents 21

What happens:

g the not Configures OmniPage to work with your scanner.

s4.0 Opens OmniPage on your com-puter.

ectly in

-down for your

le or

Allows you to determine how pic-tures or colored texts and back-grounds will look in the exported document. Color scanning needs a color scanner.

tion tomatic nge of st

Configures the program how to place zones on the page and decide their properties automati-cally.

22 Chapter 3

If you succeeded in getting goonot from the scanned page, chein particular brightness and imon page 30. This provides a moonline Help topics Setting up yo

What you do: What happens:

6.From the Export Results drop-down list, check that Save to File is selected.

This means you will be able to name your export file after you have proofed the document.

7.Make sure 1-2-3 is selected in the Workflow drop-down list. Click the Start button.

OmniPage will start to scan in your document. A thumbnail appears with a progress indicator. The OCR Proofreader appears.

8.Use the OCR Proofreader to modify words that the program suspects have not been recog-nized correctly.

The OCR Proofreader operates like a spell checker in a word pro-cessing program, but with added OCR-specific features. It removes markings from words you proof.

9.Click in the Text Editor. Select Text Editor views one after another, to see how the pappears in each view.

Each Text Editor view defines a formatting level. This guides you

10.Click Resume to restart pWhen the message OCRreading is complete appeon OK.

11.Choose a file name, file tyand a formatting level to your recognized documeon OK.

12. Inspect the document in word processing programd results from the sample image files, but ck your scanner installation and settings: age resolution. See Input from scanner del of optimum brightness. See also the ur scanner and Scanner troubleshooting.

age which level to choose at saving time.

roofing. Proof-ars, click

This ends the OCR Proofreader process. The Save to File dialog box will appear.

pe, path save nt. Click

By default, Save and Launch is enabled, so your document will be automatically opened in the word processing program associ-ated with the file type that you selected.

your .

You have successfully used OmniPage to recognize your doc-ument and open it in your target application!

Processing methods

Using OmniPage, you can choose from the following processing methods:

AutomaticA fast and easy way to process documents is to let OmniPage do it automatically for you. Select settings in

the Options dialog box and in the OmniPage Toolbox drop-down lists and then click Start. It will take each page through the whole process from beginning to end, when possible running in parallel. It will typically auto-zone the pages.

recognition language(s). You ston the OmniPage Toolbox.

CombinedYou can process a document auEditor. If most pages are in ordexpected, you can switch to marecognize just those problem pawith manual processing, draw zsend all pages to automatic proProcessing methods 23

ManualManual processing gives you more precise control over the way your pages are handled. You can process the document page-by-page with different settings for each page. The program also stops between each step: acquiring images, performing recognition, exporting. This lets you, for instance, draw zones manually or change

art each step by clicking the three buttons

tomatically and view results in the Text er, but a few have not turned out as nual processing to adjust settings and re-ges. Alternatively, you can acquire images ones on some or all of them, and then cessing.

24 Chapter 3

WorkflowA workflow consists of a series of steps and their settings. Typically it will include a recognition step, but it does not have to. Workflows are listed in the Workflow drop-down list sample

workflows plus any you create. You can choose to place the OmniPage Agent icon on your taskbar. Its shortcut menu lists your workflows. Click a workflow to launch OmniPage and have it run.

Let the Workflow Assistant guide you in creating new workflows. It provides a choice of steps and the settings they need. After each step icon is selected and its settings defined, you get a new set of step icons to choose from. You can use the Assistant just to get more guidance when doing automatic processing. See Wor

Workflows, Workflow supplied only with Om

In other applicationsYou can use the Direct OCR feOmniPage while working in yoapplication. See How to set upautomatically linked to the Pap

At a later timeYou can schedule OCOmniPage Batch Man

later time, when you may not edone through the Batch ManagJob Wizard, and then the Workslightly modified set of choicesWizard, you define your job tyspecify a starting time, a recurr

A job incorporates a workflow wManager on page 74.

Batch Manager is onlyadvanced features are okflow Assistant on page 70.

Assistant and Workflow Viewer are niPage 15.

ature to call on the recognition services of ur usual word-processor or similar Direct OCR on page 26. OmniPage is erPort document management program.

R jobs or other processing jobs in ager to be performed automatically at a ven be present at your computer. This is er. When you choose New Job, first the flow Assistant appears - the latter with a

and settings. In the first panel of the Job pe and name your job; next you are to ing job or watched folder instructions.

ith timing instructions added. See Batch

available in OmniPage 15 and its ffered only in OmniPage Professional 15.

Manual processing

1. Manually zone pages where you want to process only part of the page or if you want to give precise zoning instructions. Use ignore backgrounds or zones to exclude areas from processing. Use process backgrounds or zones to specify areas to be auto-zoned.

2. Click the Start button, then choose Finish Processing Existing Pages in the Automatic Processing dialog box.

3. After proofing (if requested) you can save or export the document.

The default for manual processing is to have all entered pages automatically selected. This way you can have all new pages recognized by a single mouse click. You can rethe Options dialog box.

Processing with workflo

Workflows, Workflow supplied only with Om

To run a workflow wiRight-click on the Omworkflow from its shor

immediately run the workflow.General panel of the Options d

The taskbar icon is not availablManual processing 25

move this default in the Process panel of

ws

A workflow consists of a series of steps and their settings. It does not have to conform to the 1-2-3 pattern of traditional processing. Workflows allow you to handle recurring tasks more efficiently, because all the steps and their settings are pre-defined.

Assistant and Workflow Viewer are niPage 15.

th OmniPage closedniPage Agent icon in your taskbar. Select a tcut menu. OmniPage will start and If you do not see the icon, enable it in the ialog box.

e in OmniPage SE.

26 Chapter 3

To run a workflow with OmniPage openYou can use the taskbar icon as described above, or you can select the workflow in the Workflow drop-down list and click Start. When a workflow is running, program settings are not accessible.

To modify a workflowSelect the workflow in the Workflow drop-down list and press the Workflow Assistant button on the Standard toolbar, or

choose Workflows... in the Tools menu, select the workflow and click Modify.

To make a new workflowThere are sample workflows supplied with the program. You can modify these, or use them as the source for new workflows. New workflows are made with the Workflow Assist

Processing from other a

You can use the Direct OCRof OmniPage while you work iapplication. First you must estaapplication. Then, two items infacilities.

How to set up Direct OCR

1. Start the application you wOmniPage, open the Optiand select Enable Direct O

2. Select process options for pfuture Direct OCR work uapplied when OmniPage iant. See page 70.

pplications

feature to call on the recognition services n your usual word-processor or other blish the direct connection with the its File Menu open the door to OCR

ant connected to OmniPage. Start ons dialog box at the Direct OCR panel CR.

roofing and zoning. These function for ntil you change them again; they are not

s used on its own.

Proc

3. The Unregistered panel displays running or previously unregistered applications. Select the desired one(s) and click Add. You can browse for an unlisted application.

How to use Direct OCR

1. Open your registered applacquire recognition resultsin the scanner.

2. Use the target applicationsspecify settings to be used offered take their values frochanged for Direct OCR a

3. Use the File Menu item Acor file.

4. If you selected Draw zonesthe Options dialog box, orrecognition proceeds immessing from other applications 27

ication and work in a document. To from scanned pages, place them correctly

File Menu item Acquire Text Settings... to during recognition. Any settings not m those last used in OmniPage. Settings re also changed in OmniPage.

quire Text to acquire images from scanner

automatically in the Direct OCR panel of under Acquire Text Settings..., ediately.

28 Chapter 3

5. If Draw zones automatically is not selected, each page image will be presented to you, allowing you to draw zones manually. Click the Perform OCR button to continue with recognition.

6. If proofing was specified, this follows recognition. Then the recognized text is placed at the cursor position in your application, with the formatting level specified by Acquire Text Settings... .

Processing with the Batch Manager

Batch Manager is only available in OmniPage 15 and its advanced features are offered only in OmniPage Professional 15.

You can schedule proca specified time in themanually. The job pag

from image files. You do not havtime, nor does OmniPage have tcomputer is turned off after the start time. If you are scanning pjob start time, with the pages loafirst job:

1. Click Batch Manager... in menu: select All ProgramsBatch Manager. The BatchCreate Job button to start

2. Select the type of your jobdriven, Folder Watching, Omailbox watching. The maif you have the given mail computer.

3. Name your job in the sam

4. Use the Start and Stop Opschedule. When the job is essing jobs to be performed automatically at future. Unscheduled jobs can be activated es can come from a scanner with an ADF or e to be present at your computer at job start o be running. It does not matter if your job is set up, so long as it is running at job ages, your scanner must be functioning at ded in the ADF. Here is how to set up your

the Process menu or in the Windows Start ScanSoft OmniPage 15.0OmniPage Manager window appears. Click the the Job Wizard.

in the next panel: Normal, Barcode utlook mailbox watching, or Lotus Notes

ilbox watching job types are only available system configured properly on your

e panel. Click Next.

tions panel to specify your job timing and complete, you can choose to have the

Defin

input image file deleted or an e-mail notification sent to a given address (latter available in OmniPage Professional 15 only).

5. Define a starting point for the new job. This can be a fresh start, or an existing workflow. Click Next to finish each step.

6. The upcoming panels allow you to build the workflow for the job, as described in Chapter 6.

7. Click Finish to confirm job creation.

For more information, please see Batch Manager in the online Help and Batch Manager on page 74.

Defining the source of p

There are two possible image soscanner. There are two main tyscanner may have a built-in or (ADF), which makes it easier tofrom scanned documents can bsaved with the scanners own socan later open.

Input from image filesYou can create image files frome-mail or as fax files. OmniPageSelect Load Files in the Get PagLoad Files dialog box. This appIn manual processing, click theThe lower part of the dialog boshown or hidden.

The minimum width or heightmaximum is 8400 pixels (71cmdpi). See online Help for pixel ing the source of page images 29

age images

urces: from image files and from a pes of scanners: flatbed or sheetfed. A added Automatic Document Feeder scan multi-page documents. The images

e input directly into OmniPage or may be ftware to an image file, which OmniPage

your own scanner, or receive them by can open a wide range of image file types. es drop-down list. Files are specified in the ears when you start automatic processing. Get Page button or use the Process menu. x provides advanced settings, and can be

for an image file is 16 by 16 pixels; the ; 28 inches at the resolution 201 to 600

limits.

30 Chapter 3

In OmniPage Professional 15, files can also be imported from FTP locations, Microsoft SharePoint, SharePoint 2003, or ODMA sources.

Input from scannerYou must have a functioning, supported scanner correctly installed with OmniPage. You have a choice of scanning modes. In making your choice, there are two main considerations:

Which type of output do you want in your export document? Which mode will yield best OCR accuracy?

Scan black andSelect this to scaimages can be sc

and occupy less disk space.

Scan grayscaleSelect this to useaccuracy, use thi

(not much difference between lshaded backgrounds.

Scan colorSelect this to scacolor scanners. C

texts or backgrounds in the outoffers no more benefit than gramore time, memory resources a

Brightness and contrastGood brightness and contrast saccuracy. Set these in the Scannyour scanners interface. After lcharacters are thick and touchinthin and broken, darken it. Th whiten in black-and-white. Black-and-white anned and handled quicker than others

grayscale scanning. For best OCR s for pages with varying or low contrast ight and dark) and with text on colored or

n in color. This will function only with hoose this if you want colored graphics,

put document. For OCR accuracy, it yscale scanning, but will require much nd disk space.

ettings play an important role in OCR er panel of the Options dialog box or in

oading an image, check its appearance. If g, lighten the brightness. If characters are

en rescan the page.

Docu

If your scanning results are still not satisfactory, open the scanned image in the Image Enhancement window to edit it using a range of different tools.

Scanning with an ADFThe best way to scan multi-page documents is with an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). Simply load pages in the correct order into the ADF. You can scan double-sided documents with an ADF. A duplex scanner will manage this automatically.

Scanning without an ADFUsing OmniPages scanner inteefficiently from a flatbed scannAutomatically scan pages in the Sand define a pause value in secopasses automatically, pausing beseconds, giving you time to pla

Document to document c

A major new featurcan open not only word-processing antypes include .doc,

Load Files button in the Omnicommand under Get Page, in thchoose Documents.

When you are finished, you cansave your files in.ment to document conversion 31

rface, you can scan multi-page documents er, even without an ADF. Select canner panel of the Options dialog box, nds. Then the scanner will make scanning tween each scan by the defined number of ce the next page.

onversion

e of OmniPage Professional 15 is that it image files, but also documents created in d similar applications. Supported file

.xls, .ppt, .rtf, .wpd and others. Click the Page Toolbox or select the Load Files e File menu. In the Load Files dialog box,

use a variety of document file formats to

32 Chapter 3

Describing the layout of the document

Before starting recognition you are requested to describe the layout of the incoming pages to assist the auto-zoning process. When you do automatic processing, auto-zoning always runs unless you specify a template that does not contain a process zone or background. When you do manual processing, auto-zoning sometimes runs. See online Help: When does auto-zoning run? Here are your input description choices:

AutomaticChoose this to let the program make all auto-zoning decisions. It decides whether text is in columns or not, whether an item is a graphic or text to be recognized and whether to place tables or not.

Single column, no tChoose this setting itext and no table. Bunormally like this.

Multiple columns, Choose this if some you want this decolusimilar to the origina

Single column withChoose this if your pa table.

SpreadsheetChoose this if your wwant to export to a ssingle table. ablef your pages contain only one column of siness letters or pages from a book are

no tableof your pages contain text in columns and mnized or kept in separate columns, l layout.

tableage contains only one column of text and

hole page consists of a table which you preadsheet program, or have treated as

FormChoose this if your whole page consists of a form and you want form elements auto-recognized. After recognition, you can modify form element properties, create new ones, or edit form layout. This option is available in OmniPage Professional 15 only.

CustomChoose this for maximum control over auto-zoning. You can prevent or encourage the detection of columns, graphics and tables. Make your settings in the OCR panel of the Options dialog box.

TemplateChoose a zone tempvalue, zones and pronow on. The templapage, replacing any e

If auto-zoning yielded unexpecprocessing to rezone individual

Preprocessing ImagesTo improve OCR results, you crecognition using the Image EnEnhancement window, click thToolbar, or click Tools and cho

You can also build workflows by chooWorkflow Assistantwith OmniPage 15.

The input for Image Enhancem

We must distinguish three type

Original image: The image crebefore it enters the program.Preprocessing Images 33

late file if you wish to have its background perties applied to all acquired pages from te zones are also applied to the current xisting zones.

ted recognition results, use manual pages and re-recognize them.

an enhance your images before zoning and hancement tools. To open the Image e Enhance Image button in the Image ose Enhance Image.

Image Enhancement steps into your sing the Enhance Images step.Workflows, and Workflow Viewer are supplied only

ent is the Primary image.

s of image:

ated by your scanner or contained in a file

34 Chapter 3

Primary image: The state of the original image after it has been loaded into OmniPage, possibly modified by automatic or manual pre-processing operations.

OCR image: A black-and-white image derived from the primary image, optimized for good OCR results.

Some tools affect the Primary image, others the OCR image. Be sure you know which image you are editing.

Good brightness and contrast settings play an important role in OCR accuracy. Set these in the Scanner panel of the Options dialog box or in your scanners interface. The diagram illustrates an optimum brightness setting. After loading an image, check its appearance. If characters are thick and touching, lighten the brightness. If characters are thin and broken, darken it. Use the OCR Brightness tool to optimize the image.

Unsuitable

Tolerable

Good

Best

Good

Tolerable

Unsuitable

Image Enhancement Tools

The Image Enhancement tools can also be used to edit images to save and use them as image files. Note that some tools of OmniPage work only on this, so-called Primary image, others on the one used for OCR (OCR image). Click the Primary/OCR Image button in the Image Enhancement window, to see the current state of either image.

The Image Enhancement window has two panels. The left panel shows the starting image. Your changes are shown in the right preview panel. When you click Accept, the right image is moved to the left panel to become the new starting image for further enhancement.

The following tools are accessible on the toolbar:

Pointer (F5) - the Poioperations under diffecolor for the Fill opera

Zoom (F6) - click thezoom in on your imagYou can also use the min the inactive view. Inserve the same purpos

Select Area (F7) - clicuse a tool only on the by default, work on th(in the View menu):

Normal - you can selecor resize the selection.

Additive - this mode edrawing overlapping r

Subtractive - use this mselections by drawing Image Enhancement Tools 35

nter is a neutral tool carrying out different rent circumstances (for example, to pick a tion, or to catch the deskew line.)

tool then use the left mouse button to e or the right mouse button to zoom out. ouse wheel for zooming in and out - even the active view the "+" and "-" buttons

e.

k and draw your selection on the image to selected area. (Image Enhancement Tools, e whole page.) Selection has three modes

t rectangular areas on the page, then move

nables you to make irregular selections by ectangles that will be added to each other.

ode to cut out parts from your existing overlapping new areas.

36 Chapter 3

Primary/OCR Image - click this tool to switch between the primary and the OCR image in the active view. Primary images can be of any image mode, while an OCR image is its black and white version, generated purely for OCR purposes.

Synchronize Views - click this tool to zoom and scroll the inactive view to the same zoom value and scroll position as the active view. To make the inactive view dynamically follow the focus of the active one, click View then choose the Keep Synchronized command.

Brightness and Contrast - click this tool to adjust the brightness and contrast of your primary image or a selected part of it. Use the sliders in the tool area to achieve the desired effect.

Hue / Saturation / Lisliders to modify the hprimary image.

Crop - if you decide tothe Crop tool then selimage will be removed

Rotate - click this toolor flip your image, or

Despeckle - click this Despeckle works on ththis tool not to removletter outlines: to do th

OCR Brightness - useof your OCR image. S

Dropout color - clickscanned image in this its effect on the OCR

Resolution - use this tprimary image in percresolution higher thanghtness - click this tool then use the ue, saturation and lightness of your

use only a given part of your image, click ect the area to keep and the rest of the .

to rotate (by 90, 180 or 270 degrees) and/its selected area.

tool to remove stray dots from your image. e OCR image at 4 levels. You can also use

e noise from the page but to strengthen is mark the checkbox Inverse despeckling.

this tool the set Brightness and Contrast ee the diagram on page 34.

this tool and pick a color. Sections of the color will be set transparent. The tool has image.

ool to decrease the resolution of your entages. Note that you cannot adjust a that of the original one.

Using

Deskew - sometimes pages are scanned crookedly. To straighten the lines of text manually, use the Deskew tool. (Auto-deskew is also available in the Process panel of Options.)

Fill - use this tool to apply uniform coloring to selected areas.

Using Image Enhancement History

To commit or undo your image edits (one by one or all the steps), use the History panel in the Image Enhancement window. Once you have modified the original image, its preview displays the changes, but they are not done until you click the Apply button next to the History list. Modifications not added to thenot be applied.

Any time you want to see whatclick it in the History list.

To discard changes you have peapplying it, select the step in th

To restore the image as it was bsession, click the Discard all ch

Saving and applying tem

This feature is not avail

If you have a number of similarof enhancement steps to apply

To create and store an image enfile into the Image Enhancemepreprocessing steps and add thebutton. When you are done, ch Image Enhancement History 37

History by clicking the Add button will

output a certain step resulted in, double

rformed with a given tool, but before e list, then click the Reset button.

efore you started the current enhancement anges button.

plates

able in OmniPage SE.

images to enhance, you can build up a list to all of them.

hancement template, first bring an image nt window, then carry out your m to the History clicking the Apply oose Save Enhancement Template from

38 Chapter 3

the File menu. Browse to your preferred destination and save the template file (with the extension .ipp).

To carry out the set of modifications saved in the template file on another image, simply open the new image in the Image Enhancement window and choose Load Enhancement Template from the File menu.

Image Enhancement in Workflows

Workflows, Workflow Assistant and Workflow Viewer are

supplied only with OmniPage 15.

To incorporate image enhancement in a workflow choose its icon in the Ware available:

Display images for manual enworkflow, each loaded image w

Apply enhancement templatewill be applied automatically toworkflow.

Apply enhancement templateselected image enhancement tethat you can make further edits

Zones and backgrounds

Zones define areas on the page rectangular or irregular, with vea document have a backgroundtypical). Background values cancan be drawn on page backgrouTypes and Properties (see later)orkflow Assistant. The following options

hancement - during the execution of a ill be displayed for manual editing.

- an already saved enhancement template the image while being processed by the

and display - the workflow will apply the mplate, and will also display the image so to it.

to be processed or ignored. Zones are rtical and horizontal sides. Page images in value: process or ignore (the latter is more be changed with the tools shown. Zones nds with the tools shown under Zone

.

Process areas (in process zones or backgrounds) are auto-zoned when they are sent to recognition.

Ignore areas (in ignore zones or backgrounds) are dropped from processing. No text is recognized and no image is transferred.

Automatic zoningAutomatic zoning allows the program to detect blocks of text, headings, pictures and other elements on a page and draw zones to enclose them.

You can Auto-zone a whole page or a part of it. Automatically drawn zones and template zones have solid borders. Manually drawn or modified zones have dotted borders.

Auto-zone a page bAcquire a page. It apzone. The backgrougraphic zones to enc

the Process background tool (shignore zones over parts of the ppage will return with an ignoreelements found on the backgro

Zone types and propertiesEach zone has a zone type. Zoncontents setting: alphanumericcontents together constitute thea shortcut menu allowing you tmultiple zones with Shift+click

The Image toolbar provides six

Process zoneUse this to draw a prozoning will run. After one or more zones witZones and backgrounds 39

ackgroundpears with a process background. Draw a

nd changes to ignore. Draw text, table or lose areas you want manually zoned. Click own) to set a process background. Draw

age you do not need. After recognition the background and new zones round all und.

es containing text can also have a zone or numeric. The zone type and zone zone properties. Right-click in a zone for o change the zones properties. Select s to change their properties in one move.

zone drawing tools, one for each type.

cess zone, to define a page area where auto-recognition, this zone will be replaced by h automatically determined zone types.

40 Chapter 3

Ignore zoneUse this to draw an ignore zone, to define a page area you do not want transferred to the Text Editor.

Text zoneUse this to draw a text zone. Draw it over a single block of text. Zone contents will be treated as flowing text, without columns being found.

Table zoneUse this to have the zone contents treated as a table. Table grids can be automatically detected, or placed manually.

Graphic zoneUse this to enclose a picture, diagram, drawing, signature or anything you want tranimage, and not as reco

Form zoneUse this to enclose an elements such as a cheyou want transferred tAfterwards, in True Pamodify the properties in OmniPage Professio

Working with zonesThe Imagealways selecof a tool, ctoolbar are

the group is visible. To select a

To draw a single zone select ththen click and drag the cursor.

To resize a zone, select it by clcorner, catch a handle and movoverlap another zone.sferred to the Text Editor as an embedded gnized text.

area of your document containing form ckbox, radio button, text field or anything o the Text Editor as a form element. ge view, you can edit form layout, and of form elements. Form zones are available nal 15 only.

toolbar provides zone editing tools. One is ted. When you no longer want the service

lick a different tool. Some tools on this grouped. Only the last selected tool from visible tool, click it.

e zone drawing tool of the desired type,

icking in it, move the cursor to a side or e it to the desired location. It cannot

To make an irregular zone by addition draw a partially overlapping zone of the same type.

To join two zones of the same type draw an overlapping zone of the same type (drawn zones on the left, resulting zone on the right).

To make an irregular zone by susame type as the background.

To split a zone draw a splitting

A full set of zoning diagrams ap

When you draw a new zone thadifferent type, it does not reallyoverlapped part of the existing

The following zone types are pr

Speed zoning lets you do manselection cursor, then move theZones and backgrounds 41

btraction draw an overlapping zone of the

zone of the same type as the background.

pear in the Online Help.

t partly overlaps an existing zone of a overlap it; the new zone replaces the zone.

ohibited:

ual zoning quickly. Activate the zone cursor over the page image. Shaded areas

42 Chapter 3

will appear showing the auto-detected zones. Double-click to transform a shaded area into a zone.

Table grids in the image

After automatic processing you may see table zones placed on a page. They are denoted with a table zone icon in the top left corner of the zone. To change a rectangular zone to or from a table zone, use its shortcut menu. You can also draw table type zones, but they must remain rectangular.

You draw or move table dividers to determine where gridlines will appear when the table or resize a table zone (punneeded columns or r

Using the table tools ymove and remove dividers. Clichave dividers in a table auto-de

You can specify line formattingmenu. You will have greater choText Editor after recognition.

Using zone templates

A template contains a page bacproperties, stored in a file. A zotemplate zones used during recLayout Description drop-downbrowse to network locations tois placed in the Text Editor. You can draw rovided it stays rectangular) to discard ows from the outer edges of a table.

ou can insert row and column dividers; k the Place/Remove all dividers tool to tected and placed.

for table borders and grids from a shortcut ice for editing borders and shading in the

kground value and a set of zones and their ne template file can be loaded to have ognition. Load a template file in the list or from the Tools menu. You can load templates created by others.

When you load a template, its background and zones are placed:

on the current page, replacing any zones already there on all further acquired pages on pre-existing pages sent to (re-)recognition without any zones.

With manual processing the template zones in the first two cases can be viewed and modified before recognition.

With automatic processing the template zones can be viewed and modified only after recognition.

With workflow processing, use the zone images step. This combines two steps: load templates and manual zoning. To use a zone template, click the Add button in the appropriate panel of the Workflow Assistant, and select the zone template file to use. Timages for manual zoning; appldisplay the images.

Workflows, Workflow supplied only with Om

Templates accept ignore and prtherefore be useful to define whzoning, and which parts to ignoareas from a template may be rsmaller zones; specific zone typ

How to save a zone templateSelect a background value and locations and properties. Click the dialog box, select [zones on and optionally a different path.template file. Click OK. The n

How to modify a zone templaLoad the template and acquire The template zones appear. MoOpen the Zone Template Files selected. Click Save and then CUsing zone templates 43

hen make your choice between displaying ying the zone template; or applying it and

Assistant and Workflow Viewer are niPage 15.

ocess zones and backgrounds. They can ich parts of the pages to process with auto-re. Process zones or process background

eplaced during recognition by a set of es will be assigned to these zones.

prepare zones on a page. Check their Zone Template... in the Tools menu. In page] and click Save, then assign a name Choose a network location to share the ew zone template remains loaded.

tea suitable image with manual processing. dify the zones and/or properties as desired. dialog box. The current template is lose.

44 Chapter 3

How to unload a templateSelect a non-template setting in the Layout Description drop-down list. The template zones are not removed from the current or existing pages, but template zones will no longer be used for future processing. You can also open the Zone Template Files dialog box, select [none] and click the Set As Current button. In this case, the layout description setting returns to Automatic.

How to replace one template with anotherSelect a different template in the Layout Description drop-down list, or open the Zone Template Files dialog box, select the desired template and click the Set As Current button. Zones from the new template are applied to the current page, replacing any existing zones. They are also applied as explained above.

How to remove a template filOpen the Zone Template Files Remove button. Zones already Template files can be deleted on

How to include a template filLoad the template, then click thchoose the file type OmniPage template will travel with the OPextended OPD file is opened lashown in the Zone Template dto a new named template file a

OmniPage SE does not edialog box. Select a template and click the placed by this template are not removed. ly from the operating system.

e in an OPDe Save button in the Standard toolbar and Document (Extended). That means the D if it is sent to a new location. When the ter, the included zone template will be ialog box as [embedded] and can be saved t the new location.

support Extended OmniPage Documents.

Proofing and editing

Recognition results are placed in the Text Editor. These can be recognized texts, tables, forms and embedded graphics. This WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor is detailed in this chapter.

The editor display and views

The Text Editor displays recognized texts and can mark words that were suspected during recognition with red, wavy underlines. They are displayed with red characters in the OCR Proofreader.

A word may be suspect becausestandard, user or professional. IOCR process, even if it is foundfrom certain characters in the whighlight, both in the Editor an

Choose to have non-dictionarypanel of the Options dialog boselected in the Text Editor panshow or hide non-printing chaText Editor panel also lets you program and a word wrap settiPlain Text view.

OmniPage can display pages wswitch freely between them witthe Text Editor or from the Vie

Plain Text viewThis displays plain decolufont size, with the same liProofing and editing 45

it was not found in any active dictionary: t may also be suspect as a result of the in the dictionary. If the uncertainty stems ord, these are shown with a yellow d the OCR Proofreader.

words marked or not in the Proofing x. All markers can be shown or hidden as el of the Options dialog box. You can also racters and header/footer indicators. The define a unit of measurement for the ng for use in all Text Editor views except

ith three levels of formatting. You can h the three buttons at the bottom left of w menu.

mnized left-aligned text in a single font and ne breaks as in the original document.

46 Chapter 4

Formatted Text viewThis displays decolumnized text with font and paragraph styling.

True Page viewTrue Page view tries to conserve as much of the formatting of the

original document as possible. Character and paragraph styling is retained. Reading order can be displayed by arrows.

Proofreading OCR results

After a page is recognized, the recognition results appear in the Text Editor. Proofreading starts automatically if that was requested in the Proofing panel of the Options dialog box. You can start proofing manually any time. Work as follows:

1. Click the Proofread choose Proofread OCR...

2. Proofing starts from the cuIf a suspected error is detecolors the suspect word insuspect characters and prolooked in the image. The edictionary word.

3. If the recognized word is cto the next suspect word. Cdictionary and move to th

4. If the recognized word is npanel or select a dictionaryto implement the change aOCR tool in the Standard toolbar, or in the Tools menu.

rrent page, but skips text already proofed. cted, the OCR Proofreader dialog box its context, adds a yellow highlight to any vides a picture of how the word originally xplanation says Suspect word or Non-

orrect, click Ignore or Ignore All to move lick Add to add it to the current user

e next suspect word.

ot correct, modify the word in the Edit suggestion. Click Change or Change All nd move to the next suspect word. Click

Add to add the changed word to the current user dictionary and move to the next suspect word.

5. Color markers are removed from words in the Text Editor as they are proofread. You can switch to the Text Editor during proofing to make corrections there. Use the Resume button to restart proofing. Click Page Ready to skip to the next page and Document Ready or Close to stop proofreading before the end of the document is reached.

6. A page is marked with the proofed icon on its thumbnail and in the Document Manager if proofing ran to the end of the page.

Voice-driven proofing is available in OmniPage Professional 15. See Voice recognition on page 82. The proofreaders suggestions are numyou want to accept.

Verifying text

After performing OCR, you caagainst the corresponding part was recognized correctly.

The verifier tool is in thbe controlled from the Tverifier display to obtain

zoom in/outVerifying text 47

bered. Speak the number of the suggestion

n compare any part of the recognized text of the original image, to verify that the text

e Formatting toolbar. The verifier can also ools menu. Hover the cursor over a the verifier toolbar. Use it as follows:

How much context for dynamic verifier? one word three words (current + neighbors) whole image line

48 Chapter 4

To turn the Verifier on, click the Verifier tool or press F9. To turn it off, click the Verifier tool again, press F9 again, or press Esc.

A full list of verifier keyboard shortcuts is available in the Online Help.

The Character MapThe Character Map is a dockable tool giving you aid in proofing. It is used for essentially two purposes:

to insert characters during proofing, and editing that are not or not easily accessible from your keyboard. In this respect, it is very similar to the system Character Map.

to show all characters validated by the current recognition languages. (Not applicable to OmniPage SE.)

To access the Character Map, cor choose Character Map from

Under the Character Map men

Recent Characters Onrecently used characteif you work with a lim

Character Sets: choosyou want displayed in

You can access the Character M

Click Tools > OptionAdditional Characterin proofing. Similarlyusing the Character M

Select Train CharacteMap will display wheCorrect field.

Select Train Charactenon-dictionary word lick its button in the Formatting Toolbar, the View menu and click Show.

u item, you have additional options:

ly: click this option to display only the 36 rs in the formatting toolbar. This is useful ited set of characters to be inserted.

e this, then select all the character sets that the character map.

ap in other ways, such as:

s and choose the OCR tab. Click the s button to select characters to be included , you can modify the Reject Character by ap.

r under the Tools menu. The Character n you click the (...) button beside the

r from the shortcut menu of a suspect, or in the Text Editor.

The above three ways to access the Character Map are not available in OmniPage SE.

User dictionariesThe program has built-in dictionaries for many languages. These assist during recognition and may offer suggestions during proofing. They can be supplemented by user dictionaries. You can save any number of user dictionaries, but only one can be loaded at a time. A dictionary called Custom is the default user dictionary for Microsoft Word.

Starting a user dictionaryClick Add in the OCR Proofreader dialog box with no user dictionary loaded or open the User Dictionary Files dialog box from the Tools menu and click New.

Loading or unloading a user Do this from the OCR panel oDictionary Files dialog box.

Editing or removing a user diAdd words by loading a user diOCR Proofreader dialog box. YEdit in the User Dictionary Filfrom OmniPage user dictionaryou can import a word list fromdictionary quickly. Each word punctuation at the start or endremove the selected user diction

OmniPage SE does noDictionaries.

To embed a user dictionary in to the file type OmniPage Doc

OmniPage SE does notUser dictionaries 49

dictionaryf the Options dialog box or from the User

ctionaryctionary and then clicking Add in the ou can add and delete words by clicking es dialog box. You can also import words ies (*.ud). While editing a user dictionary,

a plain text file to add words to the must be on a separate line with no of the word. The Remove button lets you ary from the list.

t support importing and exporting User

an OmniPage Document, load it and save ument (Extended).

support Extended OmniPage Documents.

50 Chapter 4

LanguagesThe program can read over 50 languages with three alphabets: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. See the list in the OCR panel of the Options dialog box. It shows which languages have dictionary support. A listing is also provided on the Nuance web site.

In addition to user dictionaries, specialized dictionaries are available for certain professions (currently medical, legal and financial) for some languages. See the list and make selections in the OCR panel of the Options dialog box.

Legal and Medical dictionaries are only available in OmniPage 15. Financial dictionaries are only available in OmniPage Professional 15.0.

TrainingIntelligent proofing (Infiles are only available

Training is the process of changcharacter shapes in the image. Idocuments or when an unusuaOmniPage 15 offers two types otraining (IntelliTrain). Data cocombined and available for sav

When you leave a page on whicasked how to apply it to other

Manual trainingTo do manual training, place thyou want to train, or select a grchoose Train Character... from will see an enlarged view of thecurrent OCR solution. ChangeThe program takes this trainingtelliTrain), character training and training in OmniPage 15.

ing the OCR solutions assigned to t is useful for uniformly degraded l typeface is used throughout a document. f training: manual training and automatic

ming from both types of training are ing to a training file.

h training data was generated, you will be existing pages in the document.

e insertion point in front of the character oup of characters (up to one word) and the Tools menu or the shortcut menu. You character(s) to be trained, along with the this to the desired solution and click OK. and examines the rest of the page. If it

finds candidate words to change, the Check Training dialog box lists these. Incorrect words should be re-trained before the list is approved.

IntelliTrainIntelliTrain is an automated form of training. It takes input from the corrections you make during proofing. When you make a change, it remembers the character shape involved, and your proofing change. It searches other similar character shapes in the document, especially in suspect words. It assesses whether to apply the user correction or not.

You can turn IntelliTrain on or off in the OCR panel of the Options dialog box.

IntelliTrain remembers the training data it collects, and adds it to any manual training you have done. This training can be saved to a training file for future use with similar documents.

For examples of IntelliTrain, se

Training filesIf you want to be prompted to close OmniPage, select that opdialog box. Unsaved training dDocument. If you do not save OmniPage is closed. To save a to the file type OmniPage Doc

Saving training to file, loading,done in the Training Files dialo

Unsaved training can be editedis displayed in the title bar in pTraining Files dialog box.

A training file can be also editeunsaved training added to it, anunsaved and the modified trainbox.Training 51

e the Online Help.

save your unsaved training data when you tion in the Proofing panel of the Options ata is stored in an OmniPage Extended the training data, it is discarded when training file into an OPD, load it and save ument (Extended).

editing and unloading training files are all g box.

in the Edit Training dialog box, an asterisk lace of a training file name. Save it in the

d; its name appears in the title bar. If it has asterisk appears after its name. Both the ing are saved when you close the dialog

52 Chapter 4

The Edit Training dialog box displays frames containing a character shape and an OCR solution assigned to that shape. Click a frame to select it. Then you can delete it with the Delete key, or change the assignation. Use arrow keys to move to the next or previous frame.

Text and image editing

OmniPage has a WYSIWYG Tfacilities. These work very simi

Editing character attributesIn all views except Plain Text vattributes (bold, italic, underlin

Editing paragraph attributesIn all views except Plain Text vselected paragraphs and apply b

Paragraph stylesParagraph styles are auto-detecbuilt up and presented in a seletoolbar. Use this to assign a sty

You are editing your unsaved training.

This frame has been deleted. To undelete it, select it again and press the Delete key.

This frame is selected. Top part: image shape. Bottom parsolution.

Double-click frame or press Enter to change its OCR solution. ext Editor, providing many editing larly to those in leading word processors.

iew, you can change the font type, size and ed) for selected text.

iew, you can change the alignment of ulleting to paragraphs.

ted during recognition. A list of styles is ction box on the left of the Formatting le to selected paragraphs.

t: OCR

GraphicsYou can edit the contents of a selected graphic if you have an image editor in your computer. Click Edit Picture With in the Format menu. Here you can choose to use the image editor associated with BMP files in your Windows system, and load the graphic. Alternatively, you can use the Choose Program... item to select another program. This will replace the Default Image Editor item. Edit the graphic, then close the editor to have it re-embedded in the Text Editor. Do not change the graphics size, resolution or type, because this will prevent the re-embedding. You can also edit images before recognition using the Image Enhancement tools.

TablesTables are displayed in the Text Editor in grids. Move the cursor into a table area. It changes appearance, allowing you to move gridlines. You can also use the Text Editors rulers to modify a table. Modify the placement of text in table cells with the alignment buttons in the Formatting toolbar and the tab controls in the rule

HyperlinksWeb page and e-mail addressesrecognized text. Choose Hyperexisting link or create a new on

Editing in True PagePage elements are contained inThese usually correspond to texClick inside an element to see tas the corresponding zones. Thdetails on the operations summ

Frames have gray borders and ewhen a visible border is detecteborders and shading with a shoFormat menu. Text box shadin

Multicolumn areas have orangThey are auto-detected and shocolumns when exported with tformatting level. Text and image editing 53

r.

can be detected and placed as links in link... in the Format menu to edit an e.

text boxes, table boxes and picture boxes. t, table and graphic zones in the image.

he box border; they have the same coloring e online Help topic True Page provides arized here.

nclose one or more boxes. They are placed d in an image. Format frame and table rtcut menu or by choosing Table... in the g can be specified from its shortcut menu.

e borders and enclose one or more boxes. w which text will be treated as flowing

he Flowing Page (not in OmniPage SE)

54 Chapter 4

Reading order can be displayed and changed. Click the Show reading order tool in the Formatting toolbar to have the order shown by arrows. Click again to remove the arrows.

Click the Change reading order tool for a set of reordering buttons in place of the Formatting toolbar. A changed order is applied in Plain Text and Formatted Text views. It modifies the way the cursor moves through a page when it is exported as True Page.

On-the-fly editing

This allows you to modify a recognized page through re-zoning, without having to re-process the whole page. When on-the-fly editing is enabled, zone changes (deleting, drawing, resizing, changing type) immediately make changes in the recognizedelements in the Text Editors Trthat page.

Two linked tools on the Image these tools is always active whe

Click this to activate othere are no stored zon

Click this to turn on-tstored; the on-the-fly tare stored changes. To following:

Click the on-the-fly toowill cause changes in th

Click the Perfo(re)recognized,

For details on how changes areeffects in the Text Editor views page. Conversely, when you modify ue Page view, this changes the zones on

toolbar control on-the-fly zoning. One of never no recognition is in progress.

n-the-fly editing. The red signal shows ing changes.

he-fly editing off. Your zoning changes are ool displays a green signal to show there activate these changes, do one of the

l with a green signal. The zoning changes e Text Editor.

rm OCR button to have the whole page including your zone changes.

handled in on-the-fly zoning and their , see On-the-fly processing in online Help.

Reading text aloud

The Text-to-Speech facility and the saving to WAV audio files are not included in OmniPage SE. They are available in OmniPage 15.

The ScanSoft RealSpeakTM speech facility is provided for the visually impaired, but it can also be useful to anyone during text checking and verification. The speaking is controlled by movements of the insertion point in the Text Editor which can be mouse or keyboard driven.

To hear text: Use these keys:

One character at a time, forward or back

Right or left arrow. Letter, number or punctuation names are spoken.

Current word Ctrl + Numpad 1

One word to the right

One word to the left

A single line

Next line

Previous line

Current sentence

From insertion point to end of stence

From start of sentence to inserpoint

Current page

From top of current page to instion point

From insertion point to end of crent pageReading text aloud 55

Ctrl + right arrow

Ctrl + left arrow

Place the insertion point in the line

Down arrow

Up arrow

Ctrl + Numpad 2

en- Ctrl + Numpad 6

tion Ctrl + Numpad 4

Ctrl + Numpad 3

er- Ctrl + Home

ur- Ctrl + End

56 Chapter 4

The Text-to-Speech facility is enabled or disabled with the Tools menu item Speech Mode or with the F5 key. A second menu item Speech Settings... allows you to select a voice (for example, male or female for a given language), a reading speed and the volume. You must ensure the language selection is appropriate for the text you want to hear.

You also have the following keyboard controls:

All speech systems will be instacomplete installation. If you pechoose the languages you need

Working with FormsYou can bring papeas PDF in an officeProfessional 15, recor both - in True Prelevant areas of yo

Form as recognition layout, theForm Arrangement to make mand save it in the following formInfoPath 2003 format). Static f

Previous, next or any page Ctrl + PgUp, PgDown or navigation buttons

Typed characters Each typed character is pro-nounced separately.

To do this: Use this:

Pause/Resume Ctrl + Numpad 5

Set speed higher

Set speed lower

Restore speedlled with OmniPage 15 if you choose a rform a custom installation, you can .

r or electronic forms (distributed mainly environment) into OmniPage ognize them and edit their content, layout age view. Draw form zones over the ur image before recognition, or choose n use the two toolbars: Form Drawing and odifications and produce a fillable form

ats: PDF, RTF, or XSN (Microsoft Office orms can be saved to HTML. OmniPage

Ctrl + Numpad +

Ctrl + Numpad

Ctrl + Numpad *

Professional 15 uses the Logical Form RecognitionTM technology to process forms.

Please note that OmniPage supports form creation and editing, however the tools available here are not designed to fill in forms.

The Form Drawing ToolbarThis is a dockable toolbar, displayed in the Text Editor that allows you to create a range of form elements using the following tools:

Selection: Click this tool to be able to select, move, or resize elements in your form.

Text: Use the text tool to add fixed text descriptions on your form such as titles, labels and headers.

Line: The Line tool is mainly used in layout design: click it and draw lines to separate distinct sections in your form.

Rectangle: Click this tdesign purposes.

Graphic: Use this tooltreated as graphics.

Fill text: Click this toofields where you want

Comb: Use this tool toThis is typically used f

Checkbox: Click this tYes/No questions and

Circle text: Its functio(above): the Circle texwhen selected.

Table: This tool createWorking with Forms 57

ool to create rectangles in your form for

to select areas of your form that are to be

l to create fillable text fields. These are people to enter text.

create a text field consisting of boxes. or information such as ZIP codes.

ool and draw Checkboxes - typically for marking one or more choices.

n is similar to the Checkbox element t tool creates elements that get encircled

s tables in your form.

58 Chapter 4

You can also create form elements by right-clicking an existing form element in your recognized form, and choose the Insert Form Object menu item.

The Form Arrangement ToolbarThe tools on this toolbar can be used to line up form elements or to set which one is on top of the others when they overlap. This latter function is useful for example if you want to create a background graphic design for your form.

To set the order of overlapping elements, use the Bring to Front and Send to Back buttons.

To align the right/left, top/bottom edges or the centers of the selected form elements

horizontally - u

vertically - use t

The commands of the Form Arthe shortcut menu of any form

Editing Form object propertiTo edit a form object directly sto display its shortcut menu. Yoproperties of any form element

Form Object Appearance - usedesign the look of your form elea text-editing application.

Form Object Properties - this cproperties such as size, positionvary depending on what type ose the horizontal alignment tools

he vertical arrangement tools.

rangement toolbar are also accessible from element.

eselect it then right-click the given element u can edit the appearance or the

here. Use the following commands:

the tabs Borders, Shading and Shadow to ments in a similar way as you would do in

ommand gives you access to the element , name. Note that properties dynamically f an element you select.

Saving and exporting

Once you have acquired at least one image for a document, you can export the image(s) to file. Once you have recognized at least one page, you can export recognition results a single page, selected pages or the whole document to a target application by saving to file, copying to Clipboard or sending to a mailing application. Saving as an OmniPage Document is always possible.

A document remains in OmniPage after export. This allows you to save, copy or send its pages repeatedly, for example with different formatting levels, using different file types, names or locations. You can also add or re-recognize pages or modify the recognized text.

With automatic processing andto save first before processing s

A workflow may contain one otargets (for instance, t